The state of Louisiana lags in human development and well-being, according to a new report
30th November 2020 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
Despite some progress since a similar study in 2009, a new report by Measure of America found that the state of Louisiana – and especially people of color – continues to lag behind Americans in other areas of the country when it comes to human development and well-being.
The study researched and evaluated three basic facets – a healthy and long life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living – that are key to a life of freedom and opportunity. Measure of America, which is an initiative of the Social Science Research Council, examined government data regarding indicators of health, education and income and converted the numbers into a score on the American Human Development Index.
The AHDI tabulates a person’s well-being on a scale of 0-to-10 and compares the resulting scores across different demographic groups in Louisiana.
The recently released report, titled “A Portrait of Louisiana: Human Development in an Age of Uncertainty,” follows a similar one completed in 2009, just a few years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina as the state and its citizens struggled to regain their economic, health and social wellness.
Like that study done 11 years ago, the new effort by Measure of America evaluates well-being and human development at a time of great upheaval and challenges for Louisianans, who now are coping with crises just as challenging and disruptive as Katrina.
And, just like 2009, the results of the research reflect how well-being and life opportunity are directly connected to race and geographic location, a fact that can complicate and hinder efforts to improve quality of life and happiness for all Louisiana citizens.
“When Measure of America published its first human development report on Louisiana in 2009, the state was still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” states the new report. “Today, Louisianans are again facing crises, including both a record-breaking hurricane season and the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, and once again, the communities that were already struggling before disaster struck have been hardest hit.
“The trajectories of these and other disasters are not inevitable. The pandemic throws into sharp relief the ways that people’s life chances are radically shaped by race and place. Ensuring that every Louisianan has adequate resources to prepare for, weather, and recover from crises of various sorts is essential.”
Measure of America Director Kristen Lewis said in an interview that the new study “revealed that Louisiana has made some progress over the last decade, particularly in the realm of education, but certain communities still lag behind and the statewide score remains below the U.S. average.”
Lewis added that the AHDI scores in Louisiana “can serve as a map of vulnerability, showing where people are struggling to live rewarding, secure, freely chosen lives,” she said. “With the pandemic and a record-breaking hurricane season, communities that had the fewest resources before will face an even tougher road to recovery.”
“Taken altogether,” she said, “our findings illustrate that without meaningful policy change, people who were struggling before the crises of 2020 face steep barriers to recovery.”
The results of the 2020 research unsurprisingly show that some of the state’s largest AHDI scores occur between different racial and ethnic groups. Black residents of Louisiana scored 2.93 on the development scale, the lowest of any ethnic group, and that people of color are twice as likely as whites to lack a high school diploma and just half as likely to possess a bachelor’s degree.
What’s more, Black Louisianans have median earnings just over half of the earnings of whites, while men of color show a life expectancy of just 69.5 years, the lowest of any demographic group.
The view is even more striking specifically in New Orleans, where white residents, on average, live several years longer than Black residents, and Orleans Parish shows the highest white-Black well-being gap in the whole state.
Lewis said that Louisiana’s past heavily informs its present, including the results revealed in the new Measure of America report. From slavery through institutional segregation to mass incarceration, what has come before continues to impact on what’s happening today.
“The racial disparities in the report are the result of a long history of systemic racism, the legacy of slavery, mass incarceration, residential segregation and deliberate policy choices rooted in white supremacist ideologies, laws and practices,” she said. “The data demonstrates how racist policies, ranging from Black codes to redlining to policing, have perpetuated the striking inequality we see today,” she added.
A key facet of the report is the severe impact mass incarceration can have on the community, particularly among Black Louisianans.
“Most, if not all, of the factors we analyzed are intertwined, and incarceration is no exception,” Lewis said. “Our data clearly illustrates the undeniable links between incarceration and factors such as poverty and youth disconnection.”
Lewis said that not only does Louisiana lock up significantly more of its population than any other state, but within the state, the incarceration rates are almost twice as highest in the parishes with the lowest AHDI scores compared to the highest-scoring parishes.
In terms of ethnicity, while the state population is 33 percent Black, people of color comprised 52 percent of the jail population in 2015, and 67 percent of the prison population in 2017. The implications of such high incarceration numbers are far-reaching, especially economically and financially because it imprisons people who are wage earners, including parents, for their families.
“Incarceration deprives people behind bars of the ability to earn a wage, generate wealth, and work toward future retirement,” Lewis said. “Even after they’re released from prison, formerly incarcerated people face numerous barriers to employment and reliable wages.”
Add in the costs of the legal system (bail bonds, attorney representation, court fees and charges for visitation and prison commissaries), and a family could become financially crippled by a system of mass incarceration that disproportionately hits the Black population, especially youth.
The challenges presented by mass incarceration often go hand in hand with another measure – youth disconnection, which figures the number of teens and young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor working. Such young people are often left to feel the brunt of the other negative factors – such as incarceration of themselves or family members, lack of quality education, and systemic racism that denies them employment, housing and opportunity – hanging over the Black population.
As a result, the new study found the Louisiana youth disconnection rate to be 16.4 percent, the fourth-highest in the country (the national average is 11.2 percent), and young people of color in the state are nearly twice as likely as their white counterparts to be disconnected (22.3 percent compared to 12.2 percent). Young Black men face significantly higher disconnection rates as young Black women; in all, Black male teens and young men show a disconnection rate of 27.1 percent men face by far the greatest challenges; 27.1 percent are disconnected.
Moreover, incarceration is a key indicator in youth disconnection, meaning young Black males are negatively impacted at the highest rates – nearly one in four disconnected Black boys and young men live in an institution.
Disconnection and incarceration as youth then naturally hinder a person’s ability to survive, thrive and achieve well-being.
“Youth disconnection matters to human development because many of the capabilities fundamental to a flourishing, freely chosen life are accrued during the teens and early twenties,” the report stated. “Early experiences with the autonomy of adulthood … build confidence and a sense of agency. Those detached from school and work during the critical years of emerging adulthood miss out on these and other positive firsts, experiences that allow young people to garner credentials, develop social and emotional skills, and build networks that aid in the transition to the workforce and shape their sense of self. Young people who go through a spell of disconnection during this critical period often continue to experience repercussions years down the road in the form of limited educational attainment, lower wages, higher rates of unemployment, and worse health.”
When all is said and done, Lewis said, the Measure of America results show challenges, but they’re ones that can be overcome with policy changes and more determined focus by the state’s leaders.
“Based on our findings, a key message we are trying to convey through ‘A Portrait of Louisiana’ is that there’s nothing inevitable about inequality in the state; the well-being gaps are the result of policy decisions,” she said. “Encouragingly, this means that we can change things for the better. People in power can improve the well-being of the most vulnerable by making different, better choices.”
This article originally published in the November 30, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
